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Creative Data Solutions (CDS) is a Vanderbilt Shared Resource and has extensive experience in providing effective and robust solutions to challenges pertaining to research data using modern informatics and bioinformatics approaches.

Dr. Davies and his lab are designing new interventions by
studying the controlling mechanisms of lipid mediators, or
bioactive lipids.

One area of focus in the Davies lab has been therapeutic
modification of gut bacteria, results of which have been recently
published in the Journal of Lipid Research (see featured article on
home page). The microbes residing in the gut have been linked to
adiposity, relating to body fat, and insulin resistance. When you
eat, the body begins to synthesize a molecule called
N-acylphosphatidykethanolamines (NAPEs) in the intestines. NAPEs
employ similar effects to leptin, the adipose-regulating hormone,
comprising of reducing weight gain and food intake. However, the
means by which NAPEs did this was unclear. The Davies lab studied
mice given NAPEs and their bioactive metabolites
N-acyl-ethanolamides (NAEs) via the intestines. They found that the
mice with the missing enzyme needed, NAPE-PLD, were not able to
reduce food intake or weight gain. The NAPE-PLD enzyme is needed to
produce the leptin-like effects of NAPEs in the intestine. It is
possible that this may lead to future therapies to treat obesity
and other health complications incurred from obesity, such as
cardiovascular disease.

The Davies lab is also investigating reactive lipid aldehydes and
how they are affected by oxidative stress. The lab developed means
to isolate the effects on reactive lipids from the other products
formed from the process through mass spectrometry. Davies has also
been studying aldehyde-modified phosphatidylethanolamines and how
these molecules exert inflammation via oxidative stress.